Experts fear Tannhauser case a warning, despite dismissal

From left: Soloist of the Royal Danish Opera Stig Anderson in the role of Tannhauser, Irina Churilova as Elizabeth and Pavel Jankowski as Wolfram von Eschenbach in Richard Wagner's opera Tannhauser directed by Timofey Kulyabin on the stage of the Novosibirsk State Opera and Ballet Theatre. Source: Alexander Kryazhev / RIA Novosti

A lawsuit filed by a local branch of the Russian Orthodox Church against the director of the Novosibirsk State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet was dismissed, but the case could indicate an increase in church influence.

Timofei Kulyabin intended his new staging of Richard Wagner’s
opera Tannhauser at the Novosibirsk State Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet to
explore “the theme of human existential solitude,” but the local representative
of the Russian Orthodox Church found issue with the way it presented people
coming together.

The church took Kulyabin, 30, to court over the staging of the
opera, which has the protagonist, Heinrich Tannhauser, showing an audience an erotic
film, Venus' Grotto, which reveals a young Jesus' carnal delights in the
grotto of the goddess of love.

The critically acclaimed production premiered in December 2014
and the Kommersant called it of the 10 best premiers in Russia last year. But
only a month after its first staging, a local church representative complained
to the procurator’s office that Kulyabin and theater director Boris Mezdrich
had intentionally defiled religious symbols. The procurator filed an
administrative lawsuit against Kulyabin and Mezdrich for having publically
desecrated the Gospel image of Jesus Christ – a crime that carries a fine of
200,000 rubles.

After receiving complaints from several citizens that the performance
insulted believers, the local branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee opened
an inquiry into charges that the production “violates the right to freedom of
conscience and faith.” That crime that carries a punishment of one year of
incarceration.

Orthodox activists also demanded that Tannhauser be
excluded from the theater’s repertoire, although theater representatives
already announced their intention "to defend its professional position and
artistic policy."

Meanwhile an initiative collecting signatures in defense of the
accused was launched on the Internet. The petition, which was signed by 50,000
people, also asked to the court hearing the case to get opinions from
independent experts, which it did.

After examining the case, Vladimir Vinokurov, a professor in the
religious studies department at Moscow State University said: "The opera
does not contain elements of religious reverence and liturgical literature.”

Another religious scholar, Boris Falikov, of the Russian State
University of the Humanities, noted: "There are emblems and signs that
represent ideological symbolism, but they are not sullied or destroyed."
He added, “Kulyabin does not want to offend anyone…. If the spectator
identifies fantasy with reality and the protagonist with the author, this is a
mistake."

A
victory?

The case against Kulyabin was dismissed, but for the
professional artistic community, the Tannhauser case is another sign that the
church is trying to censor cultural works that it doesn’t like.

Alexander Kalyagin, president of the Russian Theatrical Union,
said that the situation reminded him of recent demands "to take
action" in relation to Andrei Zvyagintsev's award-winning film Leviathan.
"I wouldn't like to return to the times of raging censorship,"
Kalyagin said.

Oleg Tabakov, artistic director of the Moscow Art Theater, wrote
on the theater’s Facebook page: "The fact that a criminal lawsuit has been
filed against the artistic work, as controversial and ambiguous as it is,
cannot but evoke alarm,” and President of the Guild of Theatrical Directors Valery
Fokin told the procurator's office that the negative reaction of just one of
the many segments of the audience "cannot be the basis for public
discussion," or "a reason for inviting the author to the procurator's
office."